Come into the Kitchen for a Cuppa.... (message board)

I'm pleased to see we have some newcomers here, and I'm trying to encourage some others to return. Some of you have quite a prodigious output!

"the kitchen" is a place for general comments or questions.

If any of the quilters are interested in a scrap swap, I'm game. I'm always interested in adding new bits and pieces to the mix. Can swap in the form of 5" squares, 4" squares, 2.5" strips or random small scraps, perhaps larger (try me). I can also do by color family or theme (xmas, novelty...) I can't use whites or blacks though. Leave a note on my thread if anyone is interested

Good idea for a thread! Also it reminded me I still had my second cup of tea to drink.

>2 mabith: How's the weather in WV? Good stitching weather, I bet.

Seven or eight inches of snow on the ground and still coming down hard! Of course this is the one time the prediction is accurate for us... Definitely nice stitching weather, I'm nearly done with the fox cross-stitch, and I got a new bookcase to replace a smaller one, so there's a whole of book shifting in my future.

Who else is in the blizzard zone?

Wow, I didn't realize WV was getting hit today. I'm in southeastern PA. We've had some snow tonight but the forecast says it will pick up significantly overnight and through Saturday.

I'm in Rhode Island and here it's supposed to be a coastal storm. Last time my hubby checked, it's supposed to start tomorrow morning and we're only supposed to get around 4-6. I was hoping to get to the farmer's market in the morning before it started, but that might not work. And the baby shower I was making a quilt for is Sunday morning. I hope the roads are clear by then.

>5 lauralkeet: WV is usually so random with these systems, due to various micro climates and the mountains vs the valleys, etc... Charleston is usually a separate, warmer bubble from everywhere around us (due to the chemical plants, I've always thought).

Will be interested in all your updates!

We have about 2 feet of snow now! But its been kind of nice to just hole up indoors. I've been alternating my time between reading & knitting,

About 18 inches here! I'm trying to be happy for my niece and nephew, I know they'll be loving the big snow, but I'm low on cat food and getting antsy about it.

Anybody know why my picture gets turned 90 degrees when I try to load it from my computer to my junk drawer?

ETA: Any ideas on how to fix?

I don't know what your junk drawer is, but if lets you preview images there's often a button at the bottom to rotate the image. Sometimes cameras/computer programs automatically rotate photos, so they're not really saved in rotated form. If you open them in an image editor and correct the orientation it should fix it for good.

If you're using Windows you can open them in Windows Photo Viewer (right click on image, hover mouse over "open with" and it gives you a list of programs). The half-circle arrows at the bottom change the orientation and will save it like that when you use the regular arrows to get to the next picture or close the window.

oh - I meant my junk drawer here on LT. I use it to put pictures before I post them on my thread. I am using Windows so I'm going to go give that a try. I'll be back.

I had the same problem with a photo I uploaded from my phone to the junk drawer. I wasn't sure what to do and didn't really have time to mess with it. I hope you figure it out!

Yeah ! It worked. Thanks mabith. Now I can post to my thread.

Now I have to know what and where an LT junk drawer is!

If you go to your profile, and go to your gallery, on the left under member gallery, it says "junk drawer". And when you upload a picture, there's a drop down when you upload a picture that lets you put it in your "junk drawer" which only you can see whereas your member gallery is available to whoever wants to look. I use it for temporary pictures for my threads, etc.

>17 dudes22: Thanks, Betty. My husband and I keep meaning to have our own website/webspace where we can stash stuff but we've just have gotten around to it.

Would someone please post a new group photo. Really, one of your needlework pieces or quilts. Someone else can post something new in a week or two. Don't make me go to your threads and do it myself.... (I've done it before, LOL)

I vote for Betty's latest quilt! Or Becky's photo of fabric on the line.

A short piece in today's NYT about the stress reducing benefits of needle arts:
The Health Benefits of Knitting

I know that my sewing heped me to stay sane while recovering from surgery. I was fairly immobile for some months and found myself uninterested (still finding it hard) in reading so sewing was all I had. It made me feel better.

Meanwhile, I've enjoyed seeing all the photos and news stories about your massive snow storm. Here it is hot and humid.

If I hadn't learned to knit before my illness set in I would have had a lot more trouble dealing with things. When my mom tried to push meditation I always told her craft+audiobook WAS my meditation (when you're in pain you really can't just sit doing nothing with nothing concrete to focus on without it making your pain feel more intense). Of course this morning she sent me a link to the same article.

Question: do any of you knitters live in families with larger head, and therefore hat sizes? As in not just large but also some extra large? If so, have you had success with women's knit hats? I have finally done a few when I basically ignored the directions and made what I thought would fit, but then it means simpler patterns, etc. I prefer to knit in the round with wool, but I am not a wool-only person. However, I have had a lot more trouble knitting with synthetic and cotton fibers, and found that the silk-wool mix I have knit up hardish.

>24 Karin7: hmm, sorry no, my daughter knits a lot of hats but not in larger sizes. Are you on Ravelry? You might be able to find some help in the forums there.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I also wanted to mention how much I'm enjoying this revitalized group. I follow Ravelry threads but I'm not active enough there to have the kind of chit-chat we have here. I mostly just post my FOs and "like" ones that others post.

Besides the conversation, it's also fun to see the variety of crafts. Who knows one of these days I might try something new.

>24 Karin7: My sister is a big-head person. I just increase the needle size and adjust the yarn weight accordingly. It's still a lot of trial and error. I suggest measuring everyone's head and writing down the measurements so you can refer to them. It can be easier to tell the finished size for flat-knit hat patterns. Instead of a swatch you could do a band and put the stitches on some waste yarn to see if the size is working.

>24 Karin7: >26 mabith: My husband and his family have quite large noggins and I agree with Meredith: larger needles and weightier yarns, along with a healthy dose of trial-and-error.

>24 Karin7: When I encounter sizing differences between the pattern and the wished for result, I always use the tension guide. Just adjust the number of stitches so that the tension is the same as that suggested, but with a greater or lesser number of stitches. You may also have to adjust the length, usually done on the straight knitting parts, not the shaping parts.

As an example, you have a recommended tension of 20 stitches to four inches/ 10 cm. That is five stitches an inch or two a centimetre.
You want something 10 inches/25 cm wide. Just multiply the single unit inch or centimetre number by ten (or 25 for centimetres), and you get 50 stitches.

I am not sure where you are, but I think it is Canada, so I have given both inches and centimetres. Hope this helps.

Thanks to everyone who answered. I am a dual citizen, currently in the States, but well versed in both imperial and metric measurements, since I was 15 when the first metric changes began in Canada. I even know the difference between imperial and American gallons :).

Tension drive me crazy as a guide, although I do use it for things where it's imperative (sweaters, etc), but sometimes by the time I make and wash my swatch something comes up and then later I have lost the paper where I wrote the info down (I am getting my knitting more organized.)

I rarely go to Ravelry because I am better at getting to book forums, so this is very helpful.

There are some Shelfari refugees moving here, and one of my Shelfari friends is most active on LibraryThing.

Okay, I changed the group photo (hope you are okay with that Betty, or if you prefer to use another photo just repost). So, in three weeks or a month someone else can post one of their works. I'll keep a list here so everyone will get a turn.

1. Betty (dudes22)
2.
3.

It's ok with me although I was a little surprised when I opened the group up and saw it.

>30 avaland: ooh, that's fabulous!

Oooh nice one!

Ok - here's a question for the quilters in the group. If you are sewing a border to a side which has a lot of seams, should you attach the border with the border up or the quilt up? I'd rather attach with quilt and seams up so I can see that the seams are going in the right directions, etc, but do the two ease in together better if the border is on top?

I always put the "seamy" side up, for the same reason as you. But I'm no expert.

It certainly makes sense to do the seamy quilt side up, but I can't testify that I follow sensible rules.

I could swear I read somewhere how to do it so the seams ease in better, but d**ned if I can find it now.

Great idea. One of these days, when I get the camera I'm saving for, I will start taking photos again. I have some slides from pre-digital camera days, but you can't really scan those.

We've all gone quiet. We must all have our heads down over our knitting needles, stitching and sewing machines.

I was on vacation for a week, and just now sent in an application be an Artist in Residence at the boarding school I went to for high school. Cue horrible anxiety about being rejected! It's sort of a combo artist's retreat (you get room and board and sometimes a small stipend) and a guest teacher thing (doing workshops or advising independent study programs rather than teaching a daily class). My letter of intent focused on needlework and, of course, books.

>40 mabith: Cool! Kudos to you just for applying!

I was spurred on by some family drama (pretty rare in my family) and thinking "I have to get away from that!" It's something I've thought about for about ten years, but because of my limitations due to chronic pain I've always felt like I wouldn't be able to be enough of a part of the community. No sense in making up someone else's mind for them on that score though. Some people who knew me well are stilling working there or live nearby, and I think I was known best for my creativity, so that will count for something hopefully.

Oh that's exciting, good for you for applying!

I agree - that's very exciting! I'm rooting for you!

>42 mabith: Really, good luck with that. When will you know?

>40 mabith: How tremendously exciting! I really hope this happens for you; it sounds wonderful!

Thanks, y'all! It's a wonderful tiny, Quaker school with a really strong emphasis on community. It's one of the most supportive places I've been, and I was so lucky to have that during high school. I'd love to be able to give back, and I can't really do that monetarily.

Have changed the group photo again to a work by Mabith (hope that's okay, Meredith).

>40 mabith: >47 mabith: It sounds like great opportunity.

>48 avaland: Fine with me! :)

>49 thornton37814: Current panicking since I haven't heard back from them, but the e-mail address they directed inquiries to is a general one and I think last week might have been their spring break. We'll see!

Gosh, all quiet in the room these days! My blue quilt is done and ironed, and the scrap quilt is ready to be ironed. After I send these off, I'll assemble the "October Fever" scrap quilt and then send that off.

Then, it will either be my daughter's quilt or something else... I have seedlings to start indoors and a lot of outdoor work to do, so there could be a lull in my sewing over the next few months.

I've been trying to learn brioche knitting and mostly just getting frustrated over it! I really want to make this scarflet (pattern here):


Also the fact that it's called brioche knitting is making me hungry!

That's pretty. I haven't tried brioche stitch yet, haven't done any lace at all really but I'd like to try.

Mmm...brioche :)

My state is soggy. :/ Grandma is stuck in her house, due to flooding, and insists she doesn't need anything since they went grocery shopping before the flood started. *sigh*

In happier news, I've worked on some fun stuff this year, and feel like I'm getting my feet back under me. Started a new thread for my 2016 projects, too.

>52 mabith: That's amazing. I love the way she worked the yarn from each end to get the transitions so beautifully.

>54 AngelaB86: Soggy is awful. It takes so long to disappear. Hopefully things will improve soon.

Betty (dudes22) and I have conspired to meet at a quilt/sewing expo on Thursday. It's in Worcester, Massachusetts, roughly halfway between the two of us. We'll let you know how it goes. We will be armed with totebags and our credit cards! LOLOLOL.

>56 avaland: Totebags and credit cards... there's a dangerous combination. Sounds like lots of fun.

Photos please!! I'm excited for both of you. LT meetups are the best.

>57 SassyLassy: I can't speak for Betty, but I have a list of things to shop for! (but we are also there to look at quilts and other exhibits)

http://www.sewingexpo.com/worcesterma.aspx

>58 lauralkeet: Sure, photos of quilts, right? ha ha

I'm planning to bring a camera so I can record things I might want to do sometime or for inspiration. And I have a small list of things I'm looking for.

>56 avaland: So much fun to meet up!

I'm just back from a mini-family reunion, and we had lots of knitting and cross-stitch talk. It was so lovely to have some knitting buddies while there, but just in general I feel re-energized. I hadn't seen two of my aunts for six and seven years (saw them at least twice a year for most of my childhood, despite the vast distances between West Virginia and Texas/New Mexico), and it was worth all the extra fatigue and pain one hundred times over.

Betty and I did meet yesterday and we had a very companionable time viewing the exhibits, shopping and having lunch. We had both not been to this expo before, and were perhaps a bit disappointed in what the "marketplace" had to offer. We both had things we were looking for. There were ten exhibits, one of which was clothing (a Threads magazine contest). I did take a few photos which I will post on the thread we have set aside for that. I hope Betty will pop in here and in the other thread with her comments.

Ok - Ok - I'm up. I did have a good time meeting Lois yesterday. (The second LT person I've had a meetup with.) I did manage to find a couple of pieces of fabric, but I was expecting more. There was an interesting mix of exhibits; all of them way beyond anything I would attempt. On my way home, I stopped at a favorite quilt shop and managed to fall going up the stairs in the rain. Banged up both knees, but they're much better today. Then today I'm off to a huge used book store in CT with my girlfriend. Fabric and books two days in a row. What's better than that?

It sounds like a nice day even if the shopping was disappointing. Fabric and books indeed! If only every day were like that.

>63 dudes22: That is quite a couple of days, Betty! Hope your knees heal quickly and no lasting damage was done. I've posted what photos I took on the other thread.

We are both eyeing the Vermont Quilt Festival for this June. When Betty mentioned it, I brought the website up on my phone and discovered that my hero, Ruth McDonnell, is going to be a speaker and that there would be an exhibit of 25 years of her quilts. How am I going to resist that?!

It's about a 5 hour drive for me, so I'd have to plan on staying over. Maybe a mini vacation with Mr Dude. I'll have to broach the subject and see what he says. I'll have to see what else is in the area he might be interested in.

I'd imagine her talk will fill up fast. I'd register as soon as I could if I were you, Lois.

ETA: I see her talk is on Friday night. Definitely a stay over if I go.

>66 dudes22: Yes, I'm thinking along those lines (mini vacation with dukedom_enough). He might like the Shelburne Museum (lots of Americana), then there's the Ben & Jerry's headquarters:-) Will decide this weekend! (imposed deadline)

I got an email yesterday from the quilt shop I used to go to regularly when I lived in Massachusetts (and which I drive down to somewhat infrequently now) that they are teetering on the brink financially. The lovely yarn shop that was next door to the quilt shop has already gone. And this is happening in Acton, Massachusetts, a suburban community where the median household income is $124,000! Anyhoo, they made a plea, asking if people would shop next weekend to help alleviate the immediate debt and then commit, if they could, to join one of their fabric "clubs" --- for example, 6 new batik fat quarters a month (like a subscription service, I suppose) so they have some regular income. And they posted this quilt shop's blog post on The High Cost of Discount Pricing.

I just thought I'd share this, which is not meant to point any fingers, as I shop online probably a quarter or a third of the time myself. And I don't have any guilt with regards to this particular store as it probably is the store I spend the most money at (but it's now 33 miles away). I do still love to be in a store and be romanced by a fabric, those prints that, like a magnet, just pulls you to it, and maybe you indulge in a few moments of fondling before you invite it home with you....

That said, I can be seduced by a catalog that offers fabric lines I've not seen locally, or sucked in by a sale, or thrilled that I can search through quiltshops.com and find a store who carry a suitable "purple striped fabric" or "large florals" (or whatever other weird specific thing I'm looking for) or through general searching find someone on ebay or a store who carries an older fabric that's gone out of print that I need more of. And I've even shopped for vintage fabric on Etsy.....

That's sad. One of the local quilt shops that I used to shop at fairly frequently recently closed. The two ladies that ran it were older and I think it was more of a retirement than a lack of customers. But maybe they tried to sell it as a business and couldn't. Or it could have been a rent issue. The other store I use most is about 33 miles from where I live. But it's true that shopping online offers you a whole host of possibilities that you might not see in local shops.

I know when I was working on my granddaughter's graduation/college quilt, I had to go online to try and find more fabric because the piece she picked from my stash was about 5 years old and I only had about a yard. I did end up finding some and some matching ones from a couple of different places.

I had at least four shops that I shopped at close over the years, I drive a lot further now. I did go down to the shop mentioned above and bought the batting and some binding material I needed (and, well, a few fat quarters).

My closest local yarn shop closed last year, which was sad too. I subscribe to a podcast, Woolful, that profiles designers, yarn makers, shop owners, etc. Some of the shops sound amazing and I'm very happy to hear about thriving fiber businesses. Unfortunately, there haven't been any close enough to visit yet. I live in hope.

I can remember when I was doing a lot of counted cross stitch and there was only one store in the whole state (ok it's a little state) where I could get supplies. And they've closed now too.

The small town that I live near had a yarn store. It managed to hang on only for about 3 years and has been closed a few years now. So sad. It was wonderful. Just not enough knitters in our area to support it.

I look at lots of fabric, yarn, etc. online for ideas and simply for recreation but have never bought any online. I have a need to see the materials in person and touch them.

>72 dudes22: When I was doing Victorian Crazy Quilting, there were two stores in the area that catered to embroidery/cross stitch (and one of them also carried knitting supplies). It''s possible one still exists, but the last few times I was there was for knitting supplies and the embroidering supplies were scarce.

I saw this quilt on Facebook, (not by anyone I know), and I just had to share it with the group:

Wow! That is a work of art!

Interesting work! It looks familiar, I wonder if I saw it at a show or on FB.

I got an email today that one of the local independent quilt shops is closing the end of the month. It didn't have a lot of fabric - it was more of a machine and classes shop - lots of machine embroidery. That doesn't leave too many in RI. I was at Joann Frabrics today looking for a white fabric that had some texture to it for a spread I want to make and went through the cotton section just to look. Every once in a while you can find a decent quality, but not that often.

>79 dudes22: I know what you mean. I drove down to Acton, MA yesterday to the quilt shop mentioned in #68 and #70. They made the decision to close in June. I went to pick up what that had of the Kona solid in butter, and whatever else caught my eye. Currently, everything is 25% off.

I was just looking at the group zeitgeist and it's interesting to see what the related books are that we share (I might have the Montano book, but certainly not the others) and it says that, in general, we share lots of Harry Potter books (hmmm. I don't have any Harry Potter books).

It may be that these books might be more common of the inactive members of group, than the active ones.

>81 avaland: I picked up and read about ten pages of one of the books. That's as close as I've ever come to owning them. On the other hand, I'll bet that there's a few in my library that others in this group have.

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/Lyndatrue&tag=homely+arts&collection...

Of those first 10, I have read all the Harry Potter books although I don't have them listed in my library because I read them before I joined LT. When I expand the list to show all 100, I've got 18 that I've read and entered into LT.

Interesting. I'm not surprised to see Jane Austen on the list either.

>82 Lyndatrue: Ha! The first thing I saw in your library was the Ball books. I did some jam making in the 80s and had an old copy of that book (I'm fairly certain I don't have it anymore).

>83 dudes22: I'm off to check out all 100.... Back. Well, I've read exactly 50 of the 100 general titles, but not sure I have them all.

I've read 30 of the 100 (and have another 30 on my TBR). I think I've actually read more than that; but don't have the titles listed in my library. Hrm. What is interesting to me is the characteristic works. I don't have a single title from that list...wait. I DO! Ex Libris but Fadiman...I just haven't...hmm, I don't think I added any of the books I got as gifts in 2013 and 2014.

What I was going to say was how the characteristic works seem to actually be characteristic of the group...knitting, embroidery, etc.

>85 avaland: Okay, you made me go back and count them. I've "read" 45 of them. One of them is the complete works of Shakespeare. Another is Strunk and White's Elements of Style. I wonder how many people have actually sat down with that slim volume, and read it, cover to cover (I did, and have done it more than once, but I'm pretty strange).

I do, and always did, enjoy reading Austen. I wonder how many of the active posters here in Needlearts have a subset of those books, and what *that* would look like. I'm betting there'd be more commonality with quilting books, than with the Harry Potter stuff.

I'd say I own most of that set of 45 that I've read, but I've never bothered to catalog them. Mea culpa.

ETA: I own zero of the characteristic works, but I have a lot of things that are similar to them. There's a few of them I'd buy if I saw them, though. I'd like items 1, 3, 4 and 6, if someone wants to send me their copies. :-}

>87 Lyndatrue: I haven't even cataloged my crafting books. Hmm. Maybe that's what I'll do tonight instead of work on the baby quilt that is still sitting on my dining room table.

I own a few of the characteristic books, but only two that are actually craft books. It's interesting that the Stitch n B*tch crochet book is on there but not the knitting books (which I do own). My library has such a good knitting section that I've mostly only bought embroidery books, particularly the weird and wonderful Dover Needlework series.

I'm shocked y'all don't have Charted Peasant Designs from Saxon Transylvania or Danish Cross-Stitch Zodiac Samplers (admittedly bought for the title and the really pretty floral borders, they are WEIRD, random samplers). The series makes me feel so sorry for cross-stitchers of the 70s and 80s, as the method of making charts in that whole series of books is so incredibly hard to read. I know it was before computers sorted that, but I've seen tons of patterns from the 1910s and such that are totally legible and done well.

I only have three of the characteristic works, but I counted the ones I didn't have of the most-held works because I have so many! I have 69 of those.

>89 mabith: Ha! two of my "friends" are listed as having it! MaggieO collects needlework books (which is why I had to see if she had that one).

I just realized (after how long?) that you have a picture of the first part of my 365 quilt as the group photo. I am blushing :0)

>91 avaland: Shows what rounded taste they have!

>92 judylou: I'd love it if that rotated between all the active members projects on its own, but it doesn't, so every few weeks I change to the photo to someone's project.

It is Sunday. It is 7:20AM in (most of) Texas. I am wide awake (thanks, furkids!). I started flipping through all our posts. I like looking back at conversations. Is that weird? I like to see if something said or discussed still makes sense later. Yeah, I am pretty sure that is weird.

Anyhow, >38 Karin7: you CAN scan slides. You have to have the right scanner and accessory. Or send them to a scanning service. I have a flatbed Epson with slide scanner. I haven't tried it yet, but I should. I have the family collection of slides!

>95 lesmel: thanks, furkids!
My dogs woke me up early today, too (before 6 -- YAWN!). I think the increased daylight is a factor, plus they don't understand weekends/holidays.

>96 lauralkeet: The cat and dog always wake me about 5:30 (since that's when my alarm normally goes off). Usually, I can get back to sleep on the weekends. Other weekends, the furkids are having nothing of it. The cat in particular wants her morning pats. Today, she's offended that I opted to get up and make a Southern Pecan quick bread instead of stay and be her furniture.

>95 lesmel: I have scanned slides and negatives on an Epsom printer! I loaned it to my son a couple of years ago (will I get it back? do I care?).

I hope everyone will start a 2017 thread and talk about any plans or goals you have for 2017, and what project you are starting the year off with.

>99 avaland: Yes ma'am. Done!

>100 lauralkeet: LOL!